Epic European Cycle : 2015-10-03 : To Plitvice

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Travel
Type Name Service Provider Origin Destination Cost Notes Actions
Bus Zadar to Plitvice Prijevoz Knezevic Zadar Plitvice Lakes $42.00
Activity
Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Kms To Date Total Notes Actions
Hike Plitvice Lakes National Park $72.00 0.00 0.00 2-day passes
Accommodation
Type Name Service Provider Confirmation Location Cost Notes Actions
Pension Rada Guest House Booking.com Jezerce $159.00 2 nights
Incl breakfast
Jezerce 17, 53231 Jezerce, Croatia
Rada is fantastic - so hospitable, friendly and helpful. The property and rooms are great and the breakfasts are wonderful. Extremely convenient location - there is a walkway nearby (from Mukinje) that takes you directly to Plitvice Lakes so you don't have to walk along the highway if you're on foot. The bus stops right at the end of the road, too - you don't have to go all the way to Entrance 2. Wifi was strong and reliable.


Trip Log

Notes Actions
Driving from Zadar towards Plitvice was so similar to driving to the Rockies from Calgary. Flat, then rolling, then a wall of mountains. It was quite beautiful, with some ground fog, and then, alas, some rain. The rain persisted until we were about halfway through our hike (upper lakes) at Plitvice and then it finally cleared up.

Plitvice Lakes is quite an amazing place. It is very touristy... sort of like Banff, I guess - it's made for tourism. But it is spectacular. It is just water and water and water everywhere. Falling water, running water, clear beautiful standing water. I'm REALLY glad we came this late in the season. We'd heard that it got stupid busy during the summer, and I can absolutely see that happening, and I can see it being not enjoyable then. There were a lot of people on the trails today, but it didn't feel crowded at all. It was perfect (although I could have done with less rain).
From Brent: For almost a month people had been telling us that we must go to Plitvice (pronounced Pleet-veet-suh). The park is very large but the area that tourists visit is pretty small. Other tourists had told us that it wasn't worth visiting in high season because of the crowds, one said that on busy days the "people move through the park like a conga-line." Fortunately (?) for us, when we got there it was raining pretty hard. What tourists there were generally tried to hussle through at a good speed. My thought on seeing Plitvice Lakes after 3 weeks in the relative desert conditions of Istria and North Dalmatia was, "People from there would think this was Eden." The place is all lush plants and clear lakes and waterfalls everywhere. And the lakes and waterfalls are of an unusual form. What we are used to at home is a system where a lake overflows and the river leaving the lake erodes a channel and, if conditions are right, a waterfall. But here the water is saturated with minerals from the dissolving rocks and rather than eroding the water deposits minerals where it runs. A stream blocks itself and then must find a new path. The result of this is lakes that are shaped like cups or bowls with dozens or scores of waterfalls pouring over the edge, flowing down to the next lake. Over time the lips build up and the lakes get deeper. I saw pieces of trees in some of the lakes and they were accumulating a coating of white limestone. I think that they will be fossils one day.

The 'lakes' part of the park can be covered in 1 day if you hussle a bit. We took 2 and got a good look at everything that the average tourist sees. We were told that there were bears, wolves and wildcats in the park but didn't see any evidence of them. I guess you'd have to get away from the beaten path. If you ever plan to go, my advice is the same as visiting Istria, go in the low season. And take a flash light if you plan to explore the caves.


Photos

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